Chicago City Wire

Chicago Public Schools has pulled back its threat to disallow unvaccinated teachers from continuing to teach. All school employees were originally supposed to be vaccinated by Friday, but school leaders pulled back at the last minute.

“Employees will not be barred from coming to work,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said, according to WTTW. “We’re going to just work with them to see where they’re at in the vaccination process, what hesitation they might have, what information we can give them.” 

Employees will instead be allowed to opt for weekly Covid testing if unvaccinated. 

The move comes after local unions sent a letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot requesting reconsideration of a vaccine mandate. 

“Understaffed schools are unsafe schools. We urge you to avert this dangerous situation by refraining from punitive enforcement of your vaccine policy for CPS staff,”  Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey and Service Employees International Union said in the letter. 

In the Indian Prairie School District in Dupage County, a veteran teacher resigned after releasing an impassioned video on the topic.  

The Fraternal Order of Police have also threatened to sue Lightfoot if she intends to go through with forced vaccination for police. 

The police force also threatened to reduce staffing if subjected to vaccination mandates.

Harvard Professor Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and infectious-disease expert, wrote in March 2021 that “thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should. COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people, and their care-takers. Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children.”

Still, politicians like Lighfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker have continued pursuing such mandates.